{"id":10398,"date":"2023-06-13T00:56:22","date_gmt":"2023-06-12T16:56:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-nails-200th-rocket-landing-after-launch-with-72-small-satellites\/"},"modified":"2023-06-13T00:56:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T16:56:22","slug":"spacex-nails-200th-rocket-landing-after-launch-with-72-small-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-nails-200th-rocket-landing-after-launch-with-72-small-satellites\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX nails 200th rocket landing after launch with 72 small satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Monday on the Transporter 8 mission. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX launched 72 small payloads into polar orbit from California\u2019s Central Coast Monday, delivering satellites to space for customers around the world while accomplishing the 200th landing of a Falcon rocket since the first booster recovery in 2015.<\/p>\n

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on SpaceX\u2019s Transporter 8 rideshare mission at 2:35 p.m. PDT (5:35 p.m. EDT; 2135 UTC) Monday from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, a military facility about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

The Falcon 9 vaulted through scattered clouds, and its nine kerosene-fueled engines powered the launcher through the atmosphere before shutting down more than two minutes into the mission. The first stage of the rocket detached and pulsed cold gas thrusters to flip into a tail-first orientation, then reignited three of its engines to boost itself back toward Vandenberg.<\/p>\n

The 15-story-tall booster reignited its center engine in the final seconds before touchdown on Landing Zone 1 at Vandenberg, completing the rocket\u2019s ninth trip to space. The booster\u2019s return to Vandenberg marked the 200th time SpaceX has landed a Falcon rocket intact, and the 126th successful Falcon landing in as many attempts.<\/p>\n

It was the 41st SpaceX launch of the year, and the 232nd flight of a Falcon 9 rocket since 2010.<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s first successful booster landing in December 2015 opened a new era in rocketry. The company has now flown some of its boosters as many as 15 times, with plans to certify rockets for up to 20 flights in the coming months.<\/p>\n

On Monday\u2019s mission, the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s upper stage fired its single engine two times to reach a near-circular polar orbit about 325 miles (525 kilometers) above Earth. Then the Falcon 9 started deploying its payloads over the course of the next half-hour.<\/p>\n

The satellites aboard SpaceX\u2019s Transporter 8 mission ranged in size from a loaf of bread to a refrigerator. The satellites will test new technologies for the U.S. military and international companies, collect weather data, and observe the Earth\u2019s surface in high resolution.<\/p>\n

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The 72 payloads for SpaceX\u2019s Transporter 8 mission before encapsulation inside the Falcon 9 rocket\u2019s payload fairing. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the Transporter 8 payloads is from Varda Space Industries, a California-based startup planning a series of satellite missions to host microgravity experiments from pharmaceutical companies. Varda\u2019s first space mission is among the 72 payloads buttoned up for launch today from California.<\/p>\n

Varda\u2019s 660-pound (300-kilogram) satellite is the first in what the company calls its Winnebago series. The idea is that a small re-entry capsule, about 3 feet (1 meter) in diameter, will bring pharmaceutical research specimens back to Earth for laboratory analysis, and potentially eventual commercial exploitation.<\/p>\n

Astronauts perform similar research on the International Space Station, but there\u2019s a long waiting list for experiments to fly to the space station. And perhaps more importantly, there\u2019s a limited capacity to return cargo from the station to Earth, a capability almost exclusively provided by SpaceX resupply missions flying to and from the orbiting research lab about three times per year.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2020 by two venture capitalists and a former SpaceX engineer, Varda wants to help move some pharmaceutical research off the space station. The company\u2019s missions will be hosted on robotic spacecraft, the first four of which are built by Rocket Lab.<\/p>\n

Previous research has shown some drugs are better produced without influence from Earth\u2019s gravity. Varda\u2019s first mission will focus on growing crystals associated with ritonavir, an antiviral ingredient in the COVID medication Paxlovid, and also used in treatment of HIV.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab\u2019s Photon satellite platform will provide power, communications, propulsion, and attitude control for Varda\u2019s re-entry capsule. At the end of the mission, likely some time in July, the Photon satellite platform will fire its engine to steer on a trajectory back into Earth\u2019s atmosphere. The nearly 200-pound re-entry capsule will fall through the atmosphere, encountering temperatures of thousands of degrees while protected by an ablative carbon-based heat shield developed by NASA.<\/p>\n

The capsule will deploy a parachute to slow for landing at the U.S. Air Force\u2019s Utah Test and Training Range, where Varda specialists will be on-hand to recover the spacecraft.<\/p>\n

Other payloads on the Transporter 8 mission include space tugs, or orbital transfer vehicles, from the U.S. company Launcher and the Italian space transportation provider D-Orbit. Each transfer vehicle has its own propulsion, and will deploy additional satellites over the coming weeks and months.<\/p>\n

One of the satellites on Launcher\u2019s transfer vehicle is from a Seattle area startup named Starfish Space. The company\u2019s first satellite will attempt to perform the first rendezvous and docking in orbit using only electric propulsion. Electric propulsion uses ion thrusters, which are highly fuel-efficient but low-thrust, typically fired for large-scale orbit change maneuvers or on interplanetary voyages.<\/p>\n

Spacecraft that need to connect with another object orbit have previously used higher-thrust liquid-fueled rocket engines, which are suited for quick course-correction maneuvers as one satellite moves in for docking with another one.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have been docking objects in space for almost 60 years now,\u201d said Austin Link, co-founder of Starfish Space, and a former engineer at Blue Origin. \u201cThe problem is that, to date, all satellite dockings have cost hundreds of millions of dollars to get to that point, and these are large and complex spacecrafts with really long development timelines and really expensive development timelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aside from crew and supply spacecraft that regularly dock at the International Space Station, Northrop Grumman has developed satellite life extension vehicle to autonomously link up with aging satellites in geostationary orbit. And DARPA, the military\u2019s research and development agency, demonstrated automated docking in low Earth orbit on its Orbital Express mission launched in 2007.<\/p>\n

Link said ambitions to operationalize satellite servicing and space debris removal require a significant reduction in costs.<\/p>\n